Shabazz Palaces made its new album with longtime touring collaborators
Ishmael Butler recorded It’s a Style Sport in eight Seattle studio days with musicians he had toured with for years.
Official cover artwork for It’s a Style Sport, from the Apple Music album listing. Shabazz Palaces / Sub Pop Records · No licence claimed; official album artwork used for related news coverage · Resized for display.
Shabazz Palaces’ It’s a Style Sport arrived October 23. Apple Music lists 10 songs across 38 minutes, while Bandcamp offers the full digital album for purchase and streaming. The release follows 2024’s Exotic Birds of Prey.
The 10-track release grew out of a familiar live-band circle
Sub Pop says Ishmael Butler recorded it over eight days at Seattle’s Hall of Justice with musicians who had toured with Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets for five to ten years. Butler brought song blueprints into the room and let the group explore and shape the parts together.
The credits give that ensemble a broad role: Kassa Overall plays drums, Evan Flory-Barnes handles upright and electric bass, and Thaddeus Turner adds guitar, keyboards and vocals. Gerald Turner, Marquetta Miller and Carlos Overall also contribute; Erik Blood adds instrumentation, production and mixing.
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